Rooney facing short spell out

25 September 2011 07:35

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson expects Wayne Rooney to be out of action for more than a week after the England striker missed Saturday evening's 1-1 draw at Stoke due to a hamstring problem.

United's 100% start to the Barclays Premier League season came to an end in Rooney's absence and the 25-year-old had earlier 'Tweeted' that he was "gutted" he had been unable to play, but hoped he would be fit to feature in the Champions League clash with Basle at Old Trafford on Tuesday.

However, when asked about Rooney's condition after the match at the Britannia Stadium, Ferguson told MUTV: "It is difficult to say. It's a hamstring. It is not a serious one, it is a mild one. I don't think he will be available for next week. It will be more than a week out."

England are next in action in Montenegro on October 7, when a point is all that is required to reach Euro 2012, and national manager Fabio Capello will hope to have Rooney available.

With Ferguson having brought Dimitar Berbatov into his first XI to replace Rooney, the United manager then lost Jonny Evans to injury in the warm-up and had to call in Antonio Valencia.

Javier Hernandez was the next player to be struck down, hurt early on after being tackled by Jonathan Woodgate and subsequently withdrawn and replaced by Michael Owen in the 11th minute.

Ferguson said: "It is not easy. With Hernandez he gives you that penetration and speed. That was a loss. Jonny got an ankle injury in training. We had a nightmare of a training session on Friday - Michael Carrick, Wayne Rooney, Jonny Evans.

"Jonny thought he would be okay but in the warm-up it was no use. We had to make that change."

Despite the setbacks, United took the lead in the 27th minute when Nani played a one-two with Darren Fletcher, cut into the box and clipped the ball past Asmir Begovic.

David De Gea then produced superb saves to deny Andy Wilkinson and Jon Walters before the hosts equalised, Peter Crouch notching his first Stoke goal by heading in Matthew Etherington's corner seven minutes into the second half.